New Treatment May Cure Peanut Allergies, Scientists Say

CBS Local — A new therapy being tested to cure people of peanut allergies has reportedly resulted in a huge success among the children it was tested on. Australian scientists say that the new treatment has kept their patients from experiencing an allergic reaction from eating peanuts for the last four years.

Researchers gave the children a mixture of probiotics and peanuts on a regular basis. The therapy was reportedly designed to build up the patient’s immune system to accept peanuts instead of treating the food allergens like a harmful substance.

The findings, published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health journal, showed that over 80 percent of the children who had the peanut treatment had an immediate decrease in their allergy symptoms. In the study’s follow-up four years later, nearly 70 percent of the children said they were still able to eat peanuts without having an allergic reaction.

“The importance of this finding is that these children were able to eat peanuts like children who don’t have peanut allergy and still maintain their tolerant state, protected against reactions to peanuts,” said lead researcher Mimi Tang of the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Melbourne.

According to foodallergy.org, over 15 million people in the United State suffer from a food allergy. Nearly six million of those people are children.